Minister Susan Shabangu: Debate on 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children

Madam Speaker,
Chairperson of the NCOP,
Members of the Joint Sitting 

South Africa achieved democracy in 1994. Central to this democracy was a commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of women. Gender equality is a founding principle and core right of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 and its founding principles elevate human rights, equality and freedom for everyone in South Africa. However, violence against women and children did not disappear with the introduction of the Constitution with its expansive Bill of Rights.

This is because we come from a past where violence was a norm including the previous state which was violent and justified violence. Within this context women and children suffered violence and abuse in various forms; physically, sexually, emotionally, psychologically, economically, etc. children did not escape the same.

Women who were raped were always blamed for being raped or not believed that they were raped. Women suffered in silence with no space and institutional arrangement for recourse and their human rights were violated on a daily basis.

Under the old Common law rule the husband had the right to inflict moderate personal chastisement of his wife and rape law has its origin not in personal injury law but in Roman Property. This exacerbated by cultures, social systems and religions which have in the past, promoted patriarchy and the oppression of women.

The theme adopted by Cabinet: “Count me in: Together moving a non-violent South Africa forward.” Is embracive, signifying the aspirations of the Preamble of the Constitution.

At the dawn of democracy the ANC led government introduced measures that promoted an integrated approach in the strategies to eliminate above scourge. The National Crime Prevention Strategy of 1996 inculcated a victim-centred approach in the criminal justice system. The spin-off has been a plethora of legislation, either new or amended, that affirms victims’ rights and ranges from firearm control to domestic violence legislation. Protocols, norms and standards have been developed, for example, the Uniform Protocol for Services for Victims of Crime, 2005, the Patients’ Rights Charter and the NPA Customer Services Charter.

Institutional mechanisms such as the Specialised Sexual Offences Courts; Thuthuzela Care Centres; Family, Child and Sexual Offences Units; Domestic Violence Courts; Correctional Supervision Boards and others were established in order to create space and provide institutional arrangement for recourse and to promote women’s human rights.

The ANC government appreciated the importance of understanding the causes of domestic violence as some of the perpetrators are themselves victims of domestic violence; which makes it important to include counselling in order to change the mindset of the perpetrators, and emphasise re-socialisation and reorientation of the perpetrators of violence against women and children to facilitate their understanding that women are their equals and part of the society, in promoting a non-racial and non-sexist, democratic society and equal society. The approach to this scourge has been multipronged in order to ensure that we address even the causes of GBV.

The other strategy is to continuously raise awareness on the negative impact of violence against women and children on the society as a whole. Therefore South Africa adopted the 16 Days Activism for No Violence against Women and Children in 1998 as one of the intervention strategies towards creating a society free of violence. The 16 Days Campaign is a United Nations endorsed Campaign to raise awareness on violence against women and children. It is an annual awareness-raising campaign that starts on the 25th of November until 10 December.

The first launch was held at the Women’s Prison in Braamfontein, on the 25th of November 1998 led by the late Dr Manto Tshabalala Msimang, when she was the Deputy Minister of Justice, who became a champion of GBV and made a tremendous contribution and left a lasting legacy. Followed by the late Ms Cheryl Gillwald and the late Ms Nomatyala Hangana, they too were champions in the elimination of GBV. May their souls rest in peace.

The 2014 - 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children takes place within the broader context of the country’s twenty years of democracy as well as the 60 years of the Women’s Charter, it also marks the 16th Anniversary of the Campaign. This year’s Campaign reflects on 16 years of raising awareness on gender based violence and 20 years of democracy and the empowerment of women. One of the achievements of the Campaign over the years has been the bringing together of all sectors of the society, including civil society organisations to speak in one voice against this scourge “many voices one message,” which then spoke to fighting this scourge of violence for 365 days. Hence the theme: “Count me in: Together moving a non-violent South Africa forward.”

The findings from GCIS Tracker Research, 2014 indicates that while there has been a decline in the awareness levels for the 16 Days Campaign, when comparing the awareness of the Campaign to other seasonal and highly profiled Campaigns, e.g. the Budget speech and the State of the Nation Address, the awareness level of the 16 Days Campaign still remains high.

Despite this high level awareness of the 16 Days Campaign this pandemic remains a cause for concern in our society. Its ugly face and the level of brutality makes it worse because it knows no age, it knows no colour, and leaves pain and permanent scars in society and leads to family breakdown.

  • Anene Boysens a 17 year old girl who was found by the security guard after she was gang raped and disembowelled, at a construction site at Bredasdorp.
  • Child rapist and killer Ntokozo Radebe convicted for murdering, raping and sodomising 5 year old Anelisa Mkhonto and dumped her in a rubbish bin in a plastic bag, and just a month later he did the same to a two year old Yonalisa Mali and her cousin Zandile.
  • At Reiger Park where we will be launching the 16 Days of Activism, Cuburne Van Wyk’s badly decomposed body was found at a mine dumb near his home.

Domestic violence continues to be a deadly crime, a social menace, and a costly public health and economic problem. Most of the victims are women and children. The brutal killing of women and children despite laws having been instituted to criminalise brutal behaviour and to improve the safety of women and children shows that there is a need to move from policy to action and provide stronger focus than ever on prevention and early intervention to support women and children against this scourge. Therefore Government research institutions such as CSIR have the responsibility to conduct victimology research in order to assist on early detection and prevention.

On the other hand, while there has been an improvement in arrests of alleged perpetrators, there has also been a serious miscarriage of justice, where the alleged perpetrators are released while the stakeholders within the criminal justice system play the blame game. As government we must desist from the blame game because it makes communities to lose confidence in the justice system.

In its 2014 Election Manifesto, the ANC committed that: “We will continue to prioritise incidents of domestic violence and crimes against women and children by further strengthening the Sexual Offences and Community Affairs (SOCA) Unit and pursuing a multi-disciplinary approach in our fight against violence against women and children.”

Including:

  • the integration of the CJS including access to justice;
  • we would continue to improve the detection of crime and efficiency in the courts

While it is the primary responsibility of Government to provide strong leadership and a coordinated and integrated approach to tackling this scourge, reducing violence against women and children is a shared responsibility across the South African society and cannot be achieved by Government alone. Hence this year’s theme is “Count me in: Together moving a non-violent South Africa forward.” The campaign also aims to provide a platform to engage all stakeholders across race, gender, age and other divides to commit to collectively fight this scourge in society and to relook at the available strategies on the eradication of violence against women and children. This calls for national cohesion. This is not a programme for particular grouping, but a national call because it deals with our integrity.

In its Discussion Paper on Gender Based Violence the ANC said raised concerns on the levels of violence against women and children, it says that: “There is a serious concern about the levels of gender based violence, especially sexual violence in the country and hence government had sought to reform its laws and policies regarding gender based violence.

According to a recent report by KPMG Human and Social Services on the Cost of Gender Based Violence: “Gender Based Violence (GBV), in particular violence against women is one of the most expensive public health globally and has a fundamental impact on economic growth which can span several generations.”

Structural barriers in the economic, political, social and environmental levels reinforced racial and gender inequalities. Women were marginalised and discriminated against in terms of economic opportunities, the labour market as well as access to land, credit, and finance, which makes them prone to violence and abuse.

In this regard the ANC at the 53rd National Conference, (Mangaung Resolution resolved to increase access to economic opportunities for women, this includes targeted procurement from women companies, SMMEs, this includes transforming the economy to represent women demographics.

The National Debate today on the 16 Days Campaign takes us forward on the clarion call to all sectors of our society to stand up and be counted as part of the solution to eradicating gender based violence. Members of Parliament are critical in mobilising communities; this includes their oversight role on all government laws and strategies, they are a powerful force to take forward the clarion call of collective responsibility to eradicate this scourge.

My department is planning to host national and provincial dialogues in order to understand the causes and impact of the continued triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequalities, including violence against women and children. This will also facilitate the identification of gaps in the implementation of laws and programmes, to make policy recommendations and to partner with other government departments in order to strengthen their services.

The dialogue will also facilitate the understanding of economic and social challenges faced by women and children in rural areas and to be able to respond appropriately to their needs. Further, the dialogues will also lead to the development of the research agenda to address challenges and gaps in the implementation of laws and programmes aimed at violence against women and children. Current strategies mean nothing if they cannot give meaningful expression to the victims they must impact on positively. Therefore, the dialogues will also talk to the National Strategic Plan on Violence Against Women and Children, which will outline clearly the country’s policy on addressing gender based violence and inform how we take the Campaign forward.

The UN Goodwill Ambassador and British born Hollywood actor Emma Watson asked when launching the He-For-She campaign two months ago, the question we each need to ask ourselves as we raise our hands to be counted in 'If not me, who? If not now, when?'

May I once more appeal to all Members who have not yet signed the pledge to do so as we go out from here, in order to show women and children that we are a caring society – for indeed we are a caring society.

Imagine living in a society where we no longer read or hear about the abuse that women and children often suffer at the hands of heartless perpetrators. A society where they are safe at home, at school and at work; where children play safely outside and women walk freely in the streets. This is the society that the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children hopes to achieve.

Count Me In: I will protect my sister
Count Me In: I care for the safety of women and children
Count Me In: I am cool, I do not bully
Count Me In: I financially provide for my family
Count Me In: I do not punch others

I thank you all.

Issued by

Share this page

Similar categories to explore